Gantz: Sinking
by For Crimson Air
Summary: Nishi has joined the Gantz Room. Izumi is a veteran in the Gantz Room. They will meet and they will fight together. Who knew that they were going to end up like that? (Pairing: Izumi x Nishi)
1. Chapter 1: Black Sphere

Episode 01: Black sphere

A melody started to ring in the distance. It was distorted, so Nishi couldn't catch up the lyrics. Moreover, his head was in pain, like someone had hit him, so he didn't pay any attention to it anyways.

Restless, he stood up. Where was him…? In a room that couldn't be more simple, but with a striking big black sphere in the middle. There was four more people besides him. Resting in the back wall, a man who looked foreign, blonde and with blue eyes, that was watching around bewilderment. Touching the sphere, there was a kid no more than six years old. Nishi pursed his eyebrows; he hated kids. Standing up near a door, there was a young woman who was staring at him confused.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? Do I have anything on my face?", he thought, annoyed by her daring to keep staring at him like that.

And, the last one, in front of him, was a young and tall boy, well, some years older than him, with smooth hair that reached his shoulders. He was staring at him with the eyebrows a bit raised, like he was waiting for something.

-Guess that's all. -He said, turning back to fix his gaze onto the black sphere.

Nishi was confused. What was that place? What happened? The last thing he remembered was… oh, right.

"I threw myself by the window", he thought, "…then… am I dead?"

The woman got slowly closer to him.

-I… neither know what's going on, but it seems like we are locked up here. We can't leave this room, we even can't touch the door knobs… -She said.

"And who asked you anything?" Without looking her, Nishi walked through the door. One of the doors opened, showing him a corridor, but the door that could take him outside was even unreachable. He clicked his tongue, disgusted to see that what the woman has said was true.

When he came back to the room with the sphere, he was shocked to see a panda bear lying on the middle of the room."And where the fuck did this come out from?"

Noticing the doubt on his eyes, the woman said:

-He was in one of the rooms next to the corridor. Maybe you just walked across without noticing…

Then, suddenly, the black sphere opened in three compartments, where there were placed some briefcases and a set of weapons and tools. Everybody in the room was surprised with this, except the tall boy.

-While you were in the corridor, the ball showed some words… it seems it wants us to defeat a cat... -Said the woman, not trusting her own words.

Nishi wasn't sure to understand those words. A cat?

-Are they toys? -The kid picked up one of the weapons, and the woman took it away from him.

Nishi, not knowing what to do, stared to the others. The foreign guy took a big gun, and… the other boy was undressing himself?!

"…Ah, he wears a suit under the clothes", he thought, surprised to see that suit. It was black and very tight, "He looks ridiculous with that."

Nishi picked up one of the briefcases, which had his name written on it, and when he opened it he found another suit like the one the boy was wearing. Should he wear it? It seemed the guy knew what he was doing… With the briefcase in one hand, he went to the corridor. There, he got undressed and wore up the suit, surprised that it was his size. He leaved his clothes aside and sighed, thinking that he looked pathetic wearing that. He came back to the room, and took one of the guns. When he realized it, he saw that the tall boy was staring at him. It appeared that he was satisfied with Nishi's proceeding. That annoyed him. After all, he wasn't there to please anyone, and his superiority behavior irritated him.

He was surprised by the foreign' shout; he was disappearing slowly. Then the one shouting was the woman, and then the kid. They were all disappearing bit by bit. Nishi searched onto the tall guy's eyes for an explanation to this, but he only said:

-Come with me.

/ / /

Izumi settled his long hair aside. When he felt his feet touching the ground anew, he sighed. "Come with me". Why did he say that to a boy he didn't know? Maybe it pleased him to see that he didn't start to cry and shout, like everyone else did, and that he tried to understand the situation by himself. But, who was he kidding? He wasn't going to get into troubles to save that boy.

"I can test him. If he survives to this mission, I could consider it…", he thought.

Finally, the boy appeared by his side, breathing heavily. The woman was hugging the kid, both frightened, and the foreign guy was cursing in some language that Izumi thought was German.

-Where are we? -Said the boy, being that the first sentence he said since his arrival. He looked around him.- We're outta the room?

Indeed, they had been teleported to an unknown street.

Izumi didn't answer. What would be the point if they didn't find out by themselves?

-I asked you something, pretty face! -Shouted the boy. He wasn't very patient, it seemed.

-…You've already heard it. We have to defeat the alien that looks like a cat. -He said, reluctantly.

-Alien? But it was a normal cat… -Whispered the woman.

Nobody had paid attention to her.

-_Wo sind wir? Was ist los? Eh! Antworte mir! _-Shouted the foreign guy. Everybody stared at him, confused.- _Scheiße! Ich bin hier raus!_

He leaved, probably angry because no one understood him. They soon heard an abrupt noise, and when they turned around to see where the foreign man was, they saw his body falling down to a blood pooled ground. His head had exploded. The woman covered the kid's eyes and started to scream. Izumi sighed, and he was surprised to see that the boy was watching everything that happened with fascination. He approached him to say:

-The ground of the hunting is limited. You all have bombs inside your heads. If you run off the limit, it will explode.

After warning him, he started to run somewhere. If the boy was intelligent enough and was lucky, he could survive. Sometimes Izumi thought that it wouldn't be so bad to have a hunting partner. Of course, he wanted him to use him as a shield if he needed it.

He looked the tool he held in a hand; it was a radar. There were some light spots shining on it, placed in a map.

"There aren't so many of them this time…", he thought.

He stopped when he heard a meow. He drew out his katana, which he had picked up from the dark sphere's arsenal. Then a small cat came out from the shadows of an alley. Izumi held up his gaze, controlling his breathing. They stood like that for some moments, until the cat jumped onto Izumi. He sliced the cat into two pieces, and each one of these sliced parts turned up into another cat. Izumi, bothered, was forced to take out the gun. It seemed that the katana wasn't doing any damage. The cats started to grow up at an abnormal speed, and they jumped onto Izumi, who tried to stop them kicking them out. They started to struggle, giving Izumi some scars. He tried to shoot, but he didn't hit any of them. They were blocking his view, and they were sticking to his suit as a parasite. He managed to push out one of them, swelling his suit, and he shot him, making him to explode. The other cat stood alert, and that confused Izumi. Then, all of a sudden, the other cat exploded too. Izumi searched with his eyes the guilty for this, founding the boy who also wore the suit, panting, some meters away from him and staring to his own gun, with which he had just shot. Izumi approached him.

-Nice shot. -He said, slapping his back.

He expected some frightened boy after his first victim, so he was very impressed to see him smiling at the gun.

-I… I shot it… -He said to himself.- And it blew up into pieces… Incredible.

Izumi smiled lightly. It seemed someone understood him.

-There is another one left. Are you ready? -He said, with complicity.

The boy nodded. They began to run following a point in the radar.

-What's your name? -Asked Izumi.

-Nishi Joichirô.

-Mine's Izumi Shion. Nice to meet you.

/ / /

Nishi had never felt so powerful before. He had held a gun and shot. He had felt his blood flowing quickly. He had killed one of those monsters with his own hands. He didn't step back when he saw the animal's entrails blowing up. Inside, he was laughing. He was laughing to all those that bullied him at the school, and he was enjoying thinking at what kind of face they will make when they scream out of fear. _It was wrong_, he said to himself. It was wrong but it felt _so fucking good._ He felt like no one could stand against him no more. After all, he had shot that monster without feeling any pity.

He was taken off his thoughts when he heard the woman screaming. _Fuck_. He was fed up with her cries. Izumi and him got to where the woman was. Lying on the ground, she was screaming because the kid was being eaten by a giant cat. Nishi smiled at this, and Izumi remarked:

-What a sadist kid you are.

Nishi glanced at him coldly, trying to say something like "mind your own fucking business".

The alien quickly noticed the presence of the boys. He ran to attack them, and each of them ran into different directions. The alien decided to chase Izumi, who drew out the katana to block his attacks. Nishi pointed to the alien with his gun.

-Stop moving, I'm not able to shoot! -He said.

-Don't worry! -Answered Izumi, sarcastic- I can manage this!

Nishi clicked his tongue. It seemed that that airs-of-grace guy had seen his intentions. As he was the only one who knew what was happening, Nishi thought it will be helpful to keep him alive to help him. If he died, he was fucked up. He approached the alien to try to shoot him, but the alien gave him some knockings, scratches, and bites that he didn't see coming at all. That made his suit to start to release a sticky fluid through the joints.

-What the fuck is this…? -He touched the fluid.

-Your suit broke up! Step back! -Warned Izumi.

Nishi was forced to obey, annoyed. He had to stare at how Izumi sliced up the alien in little pieces, making him feel suddenly weaker. He cursed him with a low voice. Quickly, Izumi had defeated the alien. He stared at Nishi with a self-sufficiency look, and that made Nishi to mentally answer him with a "bud".

Then they started to disappear slowly again. When Nishi was completely transported, he noticed they were in the room with the black sphere anew. The woman sat down on the floor and hugged her own lap, frightened. Some letters appeared on the ball's surface:

"TIM3 T0 5H4R3 TH3 P0INT5"

Nishi blinked many times at this. The words changed, showing up another sentence, next to the photo of the woman:

"N015Y W0M4N: 0 P01NT5. 5T0P 5H0UT1NG."

She read the words, not understanding it. The words changed again:

"H01 H01: 0 P01NT5. W3R3 Y0U H1D1NG?"

The panda only turned on his back, not reading the words.

"N15H1: 5 P01NT5. 95 M0R3 4ND Y0U'R3 0UT!"

He touched the ball's letters. 95 more? Was that some kind of sick game? He step back when the letters showed another message:

"1D34L GUY: 15 P01NT5. 70 M0R3 4ND Y0U'R3 0UT!"

Izumi smiled to himself. When Nishi saw that he was about to leave already, he stopped him by grabbing his arm.

-Hey! You're explaining me what is this about!

Izumi stared at him.

-Are you giving me orders? I think those are no manners to ask anything. -He raised his eyebrows, as he was kidding him.

-Shut up, asshole! You better start talking or I shoot you! -Nishi was losing his patience. He didn't stand people fooling him.

-Okay, okay, calm down… I'll tell you as you survived. Nice job out there. -Izumi removed Nishi's grip.- Listen carefully. We're all dead here. That sphere is called Gantz, and it's giving us missions in order to defeat some aliens. You saw it. Kill aliens, get points. When you reach 100 points, you can get outta here.

Nishi frowned, catching up all the words.

-What the fuck… Damn… -He whispered.

"Then that sphere is a son of a bitch", he thought.

-No leaving until the mission ends, or your brain will explode. No telling police or anyone else 'bout this, or your brain will explode. Got it? We're all locked in here. We're in Gantz' hands. -Izumi said.

Nishi bit his lip. _Fuuuck. _He was in such a trouble now. But he was sure of one thing; he will come back. He was not going to give up and dying wasn't an option. He sighed as he saw Izumi leaving. He should do the same. Leave and…

"…Go anywhere", he thought, "I committed suicide. I'm pretty sure no one has found my body yet, so I should get there quickly and clean everything up. Can I live like nothing had happened? Won't the police call me? …Fuck everything. Screw Gantz and all this bullshit."

He leaved the room, letting the woman alone. As if he cared. He looked at the dark sky and sighed. Then a small smile showed up in his face.

"I'm gonna enjoy this."


	2. Chapter 2: Don't mind

Episode 02: Don't mind

Izumi dropped to his sofa and sighed, closing his eyes. "Nishi, huh?", he thought. It won't be easy to forget the name of such a special boy. Who else smiled at a dead body? Who else enjoyed watching a kid being eaten? "What a fucking sadist." But he had found _the boy_, he knew. He seemed very smart and had some survival skills. He started to undo his shirt. Then his phone started to ring. He picked it up.

-Yeah?

-Your wallet fell, so I picked it. Should I return it to you? -It was a young boy's voice.

-Uh, who am I talking to? -Izumi didn't recognize him, but he thought that he had heard it somewhere.

-Nishi.

-Fuck, boy, you opened my wallet? -Izumi slapped his own face.

-Of course, otherwise how would I call you? You better don't start saying some bullshit like how did I dare to do it or something like that because I will take all your fucking money. -He said, annoyed.

-…I didn't say nothing, you little brat. -Izumi frowned.

They both remained silent for a while. "What a spoiled kid… Does he really think he can do whatever he want?", Izumi though.

-…Look, I can't spend all my time waiting for you to talk. I bothered myself to pick up your wallet, so you should be somehow grateful. -Now Izumi was almost laughing. Nishi, who had been so disrespectful to everybody, was asking him to be more polite.- I'm heading to your house to return it to you. Better thank me properly. -Nishi said.

Izumi remembered he left his address on the wallet. _Damn_.

Nishi hung up and Izumi sighed. He knew the boy was going to take advantage of this to force him to talk or something. He didn't look the kind of guy who was going to do favors to others. Some minutes later he heard the door bell. He quickly opened the door. Nishi was standing there, with the wallet in one hand.

-Okay, you better start explaining me how do Gantz weapons work. -He said immediately, not letting Izumi to even greet him.

-You know what? Fuck you, kid. -Said Izumi, stepping aside to let him get into the apartment.

Nishi smiled sarcastically at his words. He loved being the one who ruled around. He entered and sat down on the sofa. He putted the wallet on a table. Izumi sat next to him, annoyed.

-Well, the suits are made to resist the major number of attacks it can take. If you focus yourself, you can make it really tight, and kick some alien' butts out. But it can break up. You've already saw it. They can't take every attack, so there's a point where they break up. Then, the guns and katanas are leaved by Gantz. You can get powerful weapons if you reach 100 points. Also, with those points you can get free or revive a person that died in a Gantz mission. And you know what the radar can do. -Explained Izumi, slowly.- Gantz will call us eventually to do missions.

-...Powerful weapons? Who would choose that if he can get free? -That confused Nishi a bit, who rolled his eyes at the third option.

-There are some people who enjoy this. They've been in Gantz for a long time and they chose that option. But, anyways, now they're dead.

-Are you one of them? -Asked Nishi, staring at him.

-Yeah. This is my second round here.

Nishi bit his lip, but said nothing.

-Okay, that's enough. -He quickly got up. He seemed annoyed.

-What's up? -Izumi blinked twice.

-I'm leaving. -Nishi walked through the door and putted his hand on the door knob.

-Hey… -Izumi also got up, and approached him. Ignoring him, he said:- Wanna team up with me? What do you think?

-...The fuck? -Nishi turned around to stare at Izumi.

-…What's so weird? -Izumi asked, a bit confused.

-I thought this was your second time. Why would you need anyone's help? -Nishi smiled to himself.

-Missions just get harder and harder… We don't know what might happen, and as you seemed to have some intelligence, I thought we could help each other. -Explained Izumi, frowning.

-…You trust on people too easily. -After saying this, Nishi leaved.

Izumi sighed. "The fuck is wrong with him?", he thought, "Okay, I only wanted him to use him, but he has such a self-sufficient behavior that pisses me off. Well, he can die if he wants to."

/ / /

Each time he talked with Izumi, Nishi had the impression he was a fucking snob and a hypocrit who only wanted to prove others he was the best. He couldn't stand him. "He won 100 points. Why didn't he get out of there? Is he a masochist?", he thought, "Maybe he just wanted to laugh at my ass leaving me alone fighting an alien. Screw him." He sighed. He could fight alone, and he knew it. After all, he had to live on his own for a long time. It wouldn't make any difference fighting aliens by himself. But he was pissed off. He thought he would be more powerful, but there was a fucking brat that thought he was the boss around there. And he wasn't going to be less. He was going to prove what he could do.

He started to walk to his house, thinking of everything that happened that day. It seemed a fantasy. Nobody would believe him if he said that he was dead. Anyways, he had nobody to tell what was happening. He was alone. He got into his apartment and rolled his eyes when he saw his dead body on the balcony. _Yeah. _He had killed himself, but he wasn't disgusted to see his own body like that. He was just thinking about how would he hide it. He took a lighter from the kitchen and, first of all, burnt his finger prints. They could analize that. Then, he set fire to that body's face and hair, and also burnt a bit the clothes. He kept staring at it while he was doing so, serious. "I don't regret it... I just think I could show those assholes that I won't get bullied anymore. I will smash 'em down. I am strong." He put the body on a big trash bag and exited the apartment just to throw it to a common trash bin. Then he stood there for a while, with a dark look on his eyes. _Aliens. Blood. Guns. Suits. Gantz. Deaths_. He felt powerful, and that was the best feeling ever. That's why he will keep fighting. He will never show his weakness to anybody. He was going to face everything and kill anything that stood on his way. _Even if he had to become a cold emotionless monster_. Moving on, he returned to his apartment and opened a bag he had left on the floor. The suit was in it. He caressed it and smiled to himself. He closed the bag and got undressed. He was excited for tomorrow's morning, to show the world he was no longer the same coward boy. But inside, he knew that a small coward Nishi was hiding under an amount of death thoughts.

And so the morning came. He wore his school uniform and checked that the suit was inside the bag. He will keep it hidden, remembering that Izumi said his brain bomb will explode if somebody found out what was happening. He leaved the appartment with the bag in one hand, and started to walk towards the school. _School_. Fuck everything. He hated school, and he hated the people who was in there. He had to take the underground train to go to the school, so he went to the station. When the train arrived, he searched for a wagon with few people and sat on a seet. Not even five minutes had passed when he saw an undesirable face getting onto the train. He rolled his eyes, hoping he won't see him. _Bad luck, huh_. Izumi sat next to him. Nishi sighed.

-What's up? -Asked the tall boy.

-...Why are you following me? -Nishi answered with another question.

-I'm not doing so. This is my way school. -He said.

-Damn. There were another seets than this one, you know.

-I don't see the problem sitting here. -Izumi was getting fed up with his behavior.

They both remained silent for a while, and then Izumi said:

-You're wearing your suit under the clothes?

-No. I got it on my bag. -Replied Nishi, not even looking in his direction. He didn't stand his 'beautiful' face.

Few moments later, Nishi exited the train, followed by Izumi.

-You know, you can go your way. -Said Nishi, frowning.

-This is my way. -Izumi didn't look pleased, as Nishi.

Near the station, there were some guys with the same uniform than Nishi. They stopped talking when they saw him coming. Nishi rolled his eyes. Why didn't he wear the suit under the clothes? The boys surrounded them, smiling. There were five of them.

-Wow, Nishi, you goin' to school again? How brave. -Said one of them. The others laughed loudly.

Everybody who was there just passed them by, pretending they didn't see anything. Izumi looked at Nishi, confused.

-Does this happen frequently?

Nishi nodded.

-What? Is he your bodyguard? Are you kidding? -Said another one of the boys.

Izumi knew that Nishi didn't have a lot of patience. It won't last long until he started to shout and insulting everyone. Nishi tried to ignore them; he didn't want to start the day with problems. It was a pain in the ass.

-Why don't you go back home? You know nobody wants you in class. Stop coming, asshole. -Said one of them.

-Nobody wants him anywhere, anyways. -They started laughing.

-Go to the bin you came from, mummy's boy, before we start beating you up.

-Hey, what about using him for…? You know… His friend has a cute face too… -Suggested one of them.

-Oh, that's a nice idea. Where can we take them?

One of them took Nishi by the arm. That was off the limit. Things happened very fast after that. Nishi punched him on the face. He knew that without the suit he was weak, but he won't let anybody to make fun of him. When all the boys were getting ready to return the hit to Nishi, Izumi grabbed him by the arm and started to run.

-What are you doing, asshole?! -Said Nishi, angry.

-You're not wearing the suit! They could defeat you easily! And I won't face the fight for you. -Answered Izumi. Why did he have to worry about such a bothering kid?

Nishi clicked his tongue.

Izumi stopped running when he thought they won't chase them after anymore.

-…Nobody asked you to help me. -Said Nishi, annoyed.

-Shitty ungrateful. -Izumi frowned.

-I don't want anyone to save my ass! Why did you do that?! Fuck, mind your own business! -Nishi started to speak loudly.

-What the fuck is wrong with you?! -Izumi also raised his voice.- You could have ended really bad!

-You shouldn't mind that! Don't ever try to make me look ridiculous!

Those words confused Izumi.

-Look ridiculous…? -He repeated.

-Don't treat me as if I'm less than you. I can get rid of my own problems. -Said Nishi.

Izumi looked away.

-You're such a spoiled kid. I don't even know why I bothered myself.

-Screw you. -Answered Nishi, leaving. Enough of feeling weak because of that guy.

/ / /

"What's wrong with him? I know he's prideful, but, can't he just admit he needed my help?", thought Izumi, "what a bud. And anyways, it isn't my business, so I should not mind of what happens to him."

He decided to go to his high school, even if he was already late. Once he got in there, he sighed when he heard some girls talking about him as he passed them by the corridor. _He was foully popular_. And why? Just because he was the kind of boy everyone admired. Tall, handsome, with good marks, good at sports… and apparently nice person. That was only him maintaining a façade. Nice person? Inside, he was laughing when a girl asked him to go on a date. His life was very monotonous. Terribly monotonous, and he was getting bored. That's why he didn't exit Gantz when he could. He felt good there, having something to fight for. And he didn't have the intention to leave that place soon. He entered his classroom, and his classmates quickly surrounded him.

-Where have you been, Izumi?

-With your girlfriend?

-Eeh? He has a girlfriend?

Izumi forced a laugh and answered:

-Come on, guys, you know I don't have any girlfriend. I just missed the train and arrived later. -He lied.

-You missed the train…? Well, I guess that happens to everyone. -Said one of the classmates.

Izumi faked a smile, trying to end the conversation. Such stupid people didn't deserve his attention. He spent the rest of the morning thinking about the last Gantz mission, and that, after all, he will have to continue fighting alone.

When the classes ended, Izumi stayed in the class to help some classmates cleaning the room. It was already late when a classmate approached Izumi to say him that some students were waiting him in the back courtyard. "It's probably some girls that want to confess to me… What a fucking pain in the ass.", he thought, going to the courtyard slowly. There, he stopped when he saw Nishi lying on the ground, with a lot of bleeding wounds. What the fuck had happened there? Around him, there were the five boys from this morning. Izumi looked around; nobody was at the school that late.

-Here you are, bud… You sure took your time to come. -Said one of them.

-How did you find me? -Izumi remained calm while he spoke.

-We recognized your uniform and asked for you. -Said another one, pointing at him.- It seems you're very known around here.

Izumi sighed. "How annoying."

-And what do you want? -He asked.

-Isn't it clear? We want to beat you up like we did with your friend. -The one who said that was nearly laughing.- If you beat us first, we will return him to you.

Izumi stared at Nishi. "Return him? I don't mind what happens to him. He doesn't want anybody to help him, but look at him now. He's so pathetic."

-I have nothing to do with him. -He said.- You can have him.

The other guys stared one to another, confused. Then they broke into laughter.

-The fuck, man?! Did you hear that?

-Yeah! He's just making fun of us!

-Does he try to make us leave with empty hands?

Izumi frowned. "What the fuck is wrong with them too?"

-Hey, boy, we're not leaving until we get to break that beautiful face of yours. -Said one of them.- So come at us.

Izumi smiled at himself, having an idea.

-As you please.

He had the suit under the school uniform. He knew he couldn't lose, so he was going to have some fun kicking out some asses. The boys surrounded him and tried to punch him anywhere, but he grabbed one of them by the neck and slammed his head onto another boy's. They started to bleed. The other guys stepped back, frightened.

-What? Are you already giving up? -Said Izumi, half smiling.

One of the boys draw out a razor and shouted as he tried to attack Izumi. He stepped back and punched him on the stomach. When the boy fell on the ground, Izumi started to tread down on him. The boys that remained left started to ran away, and Izumi laughed a bit. "You're even more ridiculous than Nishi.", he thought. He then glanced at him, who was breathing heavily. When he was like that he didn't look like the fucking sadist he was. Izumi thought for a moment to leave him there, and he started to walk towards the school gate. He suddenly stopped and sighed. "…Fuck him."

/ / /

When Nishi opened his eyes, he felt like everything was spinning around. His head was hurting badly. He closed his eyes again, and waited until that feeling vanished. He touched one of his cheeks, and it hurted. Then he remembered that he had lost a fight against some classmates. That pissed him off. "Where am I…?", he thought, opening his eyes. "…Oh." The black sphere on the center of the room. He was back there. Back on the Gantz room. Two more persons who he didn't recognize were there: a boy with nearly his same age and an old man. Izumi was next to Nishi, sighing.

-You finally woke up. We're going to get transferred at any moment, so get ready for the mission. -He said.

Nishi touched his own clothes; he had forgot to wear the suit under the uniform, so he had to hurry to change his… wait. What did that mean? He had… "Why am I wearing my suit?"

-I just… changed your clothes. -Said Izumi when he saw his confused face.

Nishi remained silent for a while, trying to process his words. He changed… HE DID WHAT?!

-The fuck?! You changed me… What the fuck are you?! A pedophile?! -Nishi got up, moving away from Izumi's side.

-What?! I just changed you because you were unconscious! -Izumi was embarrassed of Nishi's words.- Of course I'm not…! Fuck you! I don't want anything with a kid! And you're a boy!

Nishi frowned.

-You're so disgusting.

-Can't you thank me for once in your life? I saved you, you know. -Izumi looked away.

-…I'm never doing that, pervert. -Said Nishi, picking up a gun from Gantz' arsenal.

They stared one at each other for a while, both angered. Then the woman came out from the corridor, wearing the suit. Nishi rolled his eyes. He had forgotten her. "I hope she won't start screaming again.", he thought.

-What does the alien look like this time? -He asked to Izumi, still mad at him.

-It's a tengu. You know, the folklore creature who looks like a giant bird. -Answered Izumi, also in a bad mood.

Nishi stared for a while to the two new persons on the room. They were probably going to die without knowing anything about what was going on. He smiled at that idea. Then the transfer started. Nishi was the first this time. He found himself standing next to a lake. Nishi recognized that place as a park he frequently passed by when he had to go to the school. He didn't like that place; his classmates, who used to spend time there, didn't get tired of throwing insults and jokes at him each time he passed by.

They all got transferred, and soon Nishi was puff and blowing, because the newcomers started to shout. He glanced at Izumi.

-Where's the alien…? -As he spoke, a big noise came out from the lake. Nishi turned around and saw the tengu coming out from the water, stretching his wings and letting out an acute shout. Big horns emerged from his forehead, and he had a developed teeth. The only part of his body that was covered in feathers were his wings. His hands and foot ended in big and dangerous claws.- …Don't wind me up…

Everyone stood quiet. That view was breath-taking. Nobody did a move for a while, neither the alien, who was staring at them without missing anything. But, of course, someone ended fucking it up. The old man stepped back, and some leaves creaked under his foot. This alerted the alien. Nishi started to insult him at low voice. The alien rushed towards the old man and he quickly ripped off his head with a bite. The woman and the other boy started screaming when they saw the dead body falling to the ground. The blood started to dye the grass that was under the fresh corpse. The alien started to chew the old man's head, until he entirely swallowed it.

Nishi felt some shivers coming down from his spine. That was what he liked, yeah. His eyes were shining with fascination as he saw the alien eating. But he felt even better when he killed the aliens. Feeling the blood splattering onto him, watching how an apparently powerful being ended up shattered… That made him feel not so weak.

He held the gun tightly and started to run towards the tengu. He was surprised to see he fell to the ground. _Fuck, he forgot it_. He was just been beaten up and his body was in pain. He couldn't move as he pleased. "But… if I don't fight, he will kill me", he thought, staring at the alien. This glanced at him and twisted his teeth on a smile. Nishi, still on the ground, pointed at him with his gun. He was trembling, so it was hard for him to set the target. The alien flew towards him, and Nishi shot without thinking twice about it. When he heard the noise of the alien's body falling to the ground, he sighed. He hardly got up and turned around when he heard someone applauding him. It was Izumi.

-You managed to beat him by your own, incredible! -He faked admiration.

-Son of a bitch. -Nishi frowned.

The woman and the boy were staring at him dumbfounded. "I'm sure they think we're mad… but they're the ones who are gonna die.", thought Nishi, "what a pair of fools".

Another acute shout came from the lake, and Nishi prepared his gun when he saw another tengu appeared.

/ / /

Izumi was interested on how long will Nishi last until he asked him for help. The boy was wounded, and even if he had tried to heal him, nothing heals in one hour, so Nishi couldn't pass a close limit.

When the second tengu came out, the woman and the other boy fell on the ground, frightened. "Guess that's all for them…", thought Izumi. The alien flew towards the defenseless pair, they tried to run, but they couldn't escape the quick bite of the alien. Izumi drew out the katana and ran onto the tengu, ready to fight. The alien was fast, but Izumi could manage to protect himself for a while. At some point, the alien kicked out Izumi's katana, so his only choice was to ran away.

-Hey! Wait! Don't leave me here! -Nishi shouted at him. Izumi knew that if the alien attacked Nishi, he won't have any chance to survive.

Izumi smiled, but continued running.

-What? I can't hear you!

The alien started to go towards Nishi.

-Izumi! Son of a bitch! -Nishi started to run, but he only walked a few steps before falling onto the ground. His weapon fell far from him.- Ah...

Izumi stopped running, watching the scene. "Come on, don't be so prideful...", he thought.

-Go fuck yourself, motherfucker! What the fuck are you staring at?! Kill him already! -Shouted Nishi, crawling to try to get far from the tengu, who was almost next to him.

-Swallow your own damn fucking pride! -Answered Izumi.

-Scumbag... You're gonna pay for this... -Nishi bit his lip until it started bleeding. He almost could feel the alien's breathing on his neck.- ...Help me.

-I can't hear you.

-I'm gonna kill you... I'm gonna fucking kill you! -Nishi started sobbing as he felt the tengu right in front of him.- Help me!

Izumi drew out the gun and, with great precision, he shot the alien. The alien's shoulder exploded, and so he flew towards Izumi, who started to run. Nishi sighed, calming down. Izumi picked up the fallen katana and faced the alien with a smirk.

-Bring it on! -He said.

The alien shouted in pain and from his mouth started to form what looked like a fire ball. Izumi stepped back, frowning. The alien threw the fire ball in his direction so fast that Izumi couldn't escape it. Nishi, who was paying attention to the scene, didn't know why he almost shouted to warn Izumi that the fire was going to hit him. He blamed himself. Izumi closed his eyes, but was surprised to find that it didn't hurt. He touched his arms, his stomach... It wasn't burning. He then gripped the suit. _Yeah. That was it_. He smiled to himself and didn't tente his luck anymore. He came out from the fire, and so the alien and Nishi were both surprised to see him alive. Izumi ran onto the alien and sliced him up with the katana. He got sure he was dead before starting panting.

Nishi sighed, and Izumi approached him.

-You alright? -He said with irony.

Nishi stood up and grabbed him by the neck, pressing a little.

-You brat... -He whispered.

-I saved you twice, I don't think you should behave like this. -Izumi released himself easily.

-What do you expect, me thanking you? -Nishi was pissed off.- I looked ridiculous because of you once more. Screw you!

-Look, I honestly think that it will be better for us to work together. Plus, we are the only ones alive around here now. -Said Izumi, staring at him.- Stop being like this.

-I don't want to work with a son of a bitch like you. -Nishi crossed his arms.

Izumi puffed and blowed and tried to get another answer:

-What will you do with the 100 points?

Nishi glanced at him, and when he opened the mouth to speak, he was transfered to Gantz room. Izumi sighed. When he arrived to the room, Hoi Hoi hugged him.

-So you're still alive too... -Izumi patted his head gently.

Nishi stared at them.

-You're so fake.

-Not with you. When I said I wanted to cooperate I really meant it. -Izumi returned him the glance.

-You only want me to protect you if things get bad. -Answered Nishi.

-...You've got skills. Together we can make this. -Izumi was already being sorry of insisting so much.

-I don't want to cooperate with you, I already said it. You're disgusting.

Izumi frowned. "Conceinted asshole..."

Gantz started distributing the points.

"N15H1: 5 P01NT5. 80 M0R3 4ND Y0U'R3 0UT!"

Nishi closed his fists tightly. Only five?

"H01 H01: 0 P01NT5. H3LL0?"

Hoi Hoi hugged Izumi strongly.

"1D34L GUY: 10 P01NT5. 60 M0R3 4ND Y0U'R3 0UT!"

Nishi cursed him at low voice and Izumi stared at him. He gave him a look from foot to head, and he suddenly remembered his naked body. He had to undress him to got him to wear the suit... "Wait, why I'm thinking about this?!", he was embarrased of himself, "And... Why do I keep wanting him to fight by my side? Just because... I want him as a shield? ...What the fuck is this annoying feeling?". He followed Nishi with his eyes while he left the room. When he couldn't see him anymore, he sighed. "I neither have anything to do here."

When he was about to leave, he saw a schoolbag on a corner of the room. "...Oh, yeah." Izumi picked it up and exited the room. When he arrived to his house he picked up the phone and searched in the Calling Record for Nishi's number. He marked it and waited the answer.

-What the fuck do you want now? -He heard Nishi's annoyed voice.

-Your clothes. You forgot them. -He heard Nishi cursing him at low voice.- What? You don't want them back?

-Don't be stupid. I'm coming back for them! Don't do anything weird. -Said Nishi, hanging the phone.

-...The fuck you mean by "weird"? -Izumi spoke to himself, glancing to anywhere, lost in his thoughts. _But, oh, yeah_. His thoughts were planning nothing good. And Nishi didn't know it well yet.


	3. Chapter 3: More

Episode 03: More

Nishi hurried to Izumi's house. He wanted to take his clothes as quickly as he could and then leave the same way as he came. He didn't like Izumi, he was such an hypocrit. And, though he hated a lot of people, he hated the hypocrits the most. Fuck hypocrits and the society itself. He sighed when he arrived to Izumi's house, pressing the door bell and waiting for an answer. He took a deep breath before seeing Izumi. He had to calm himself if he didn't want to end up getting on his nerves again. When Izumi opened the door he struggled to not grab him by the neck and suffocate him.

-Get in. -Said Izumi.

-No. I can wait here. You go and bring me my clothes. -Said Nishi, coldly. The less time he had to spend with Izumi, the best.

-Don't be like that. You better come and we try to set appart our differences.

-Why? I already said I don't want to work with you. -Nishi frowned.

-Look, I'm really doing my best to get somehow along with you. We are the only ones who can manage to survive, you saw it. So shut up and get in. I'm neither pleased with this. -He said.

Nishi clicked his tongue, annoyed. He entered the house and gave it a look. He had been there once before, but the euphoria of the mission didn't let him to take a good look. It was clean and spacious. He stared at Izumi.

-Give me my clothes.

-Why don't you take a seet, damn? -Izumi went to a room, so Nishi supposed that he was getting his clothes.

Nishi, with a deep breath, sat down on the sofa. He suddenly felt recomforted. The last days were so stranges that it felt nice to relax sometimes. "What am I thinking? I can't relax! I'm in this motherfucker's house." He didn't notice it when Izumi came back and sat next to him. He didn't notice that he sat _that close_ to him.

-The fuck?! Go sit somewhere else than here. -Said Nishi, moving back.

-I was only joking. You get angry so fast, kid. -He said, half smiling.

Both remained silent for a while. Nishi, bothered with Izumi's silence, sighed and glanced at him.

-...What are you waiting for? -He said.

Izumi seemed confused hearing those words. Nishi frowned. What was the problem? He was so quiet that was annoying. Nishi started to feel nervous. What was Izumi thinking about?

-...Hey, Izumi. The clothes. -Nishi approached him to touch his shoulder, waiting for a reaction.

And he would later regret doing that simple gesture.

-Wha... -Nishi's words were stopped by Izumi's lips. It took him by surprise, so he didn't move for some moments.

Izumi's lips were pressed against hims. The feeling was soft, but he could sense his contained anxiety of kissing him. It was like he was thirsty. Izumi's lips searched for more, pressing tightly against Nishi's, who were trying to catch some air. Izumi's was looking for a good position to continue kissing him when Nishi pushed him away.

-What the fuck are you doing?! -Nishi's face turned red and he felt the heat coming up.

Izumi was kinda confused.

-I... don't know. I was lost in my thoughts and you talked to me and I... Fuck! You were too close to me! It's your fault! -Izumi looked away, embarrased.

-Screw you, fucking pedophile! -Nishi picked up the bag with his clothes, which had been left apart.

Izumi sighed and pulled Nishi's hair, approaching him.

-You don't know what a real pedophile is. -He whispered.

-What the... -Nishi frowned and tried to fight back, but Izumi's grip was way more strong.- Get off! If you dare to touch me any more, I'll kill you! And you know I'm able to do it!

-...We don't want things to end bad. -Izumi smiled sarcastly.

He forced a kiss, and Nishi started to punch him on the stomach, feeling kinda weak in Izumi's arms. When he finally released him, Nishi picked up quickly his things and got up.

-Who the fuck do you think you are?! Why did you...?! -He was going to start insulting him, but Izumi grabbed him by the arm, walking him out of the apartment.- The fuck, man?!

-Don't do any question. Just get out of here already. -Said Izumi. He was clearly confused.

Nishi was going to say something. He was really pissed off. He wanted to punch him, insult him, beat him up... But he stood there, silent. He was angry with himself. He said he will be strong, but there was Izumi making him feel weak. He hated him. He hated him more than anyone.

-...Screw you. -Nishi left quickly, bitting his lip.

/ / /

Izumi closed the door and layed on the sofa, sighing. Everything happened so fast that he could still feel some heat. He touched his lips slowly, thinking about what just happened. "Damn... I just went crazy... But..." He closed his eyes. "Why did it feel good? It's like... I don't regret it. Wait, Izumi, come on, think about it properly. He's insulting you everytime, he's a sadist and an ungrateful, he hates you and he's a kid. What makes you waste time with him, Izumi? You can have everything you want, damn... And you exactly want what it's hard to get. Heh... Maybe that's the point. If he were an easy guy, I'd probably hadn't done anything. And fuck, he's a boy, he won't want nothing with me..." He didn't know how to feel about this. What did he feel for Nishi? "...It's probably just that I'm interested. Yeah. I'm interested on a sadist. But I'm not in love with him. _Absolutely not_." He got up, and stood there, still lost on his thoughts. He was taken off of his imagination when he heard the door bell. He didn't know why something inside him wanted it to be Nishi coming again. It was like a little hope growing, so he was deceived to see it was a boy from his class. "Guess his name is Kyo...", thought Izumi while he asked him what did he want. He remembered him as a guy who was with the troublesomers of the class, with drugs and bizarre crap. Izumi rolled his eyes. The guy before him was drugged and probably having hallucinations. It would be dangerous to leave him alone.

-Hey, you gotta some heroin? Come on... -He said, moving the hair from his forehead away.

-No, I have no drugs. Sorry. -Izumi didn't want to waste a lot of time with him. It made him feel sick.

Kyo tilted his head. He drew out a syringe and played with it with his hands. Izumi looked away.

-Hmm... What should I do... -Whispered Kyo.- Maybe... I can get some of your blood!

Izumi didn't see it coming. Kyo grabbed tight the syringe and tried to inject it on Izumi's neck. Izumi stepped back, frowning.

-What are you...?!

-Come on... Don't move! -Kyo entered the apartment, and continued attacking Izumi, who was only stepping back, searching something to stop Kyo.

-Wait, don't...! -Izumi tried to catch on something, but fell to the ground, making some objects fall with him. He searched with his eyes something that could stop him without killing him. Using the suit could be too dangerous...

-You smell like cigarette! -Kyo jumped on Izumi without noticing what was going on. He was too blinded because of the drugs.

-I'm not apologizing. -Izumi's whisper came out like a winter breeze, with nothing more than coldness.

One of the objects that had fell was a knife. Izumi didn't think it twice before stabbing Kyo. He fell to the ground, coughing and splattering a bit the floor. His eyes were wide open, with a blank look. _How disgusting._ He had to clean everything after this little mess this guy had done. "But… why did he come _exactly_ to my house? Was he really drugged or…?" Izumi was starting to over-think, losing his gaze onto Kyo's dead eyes.

/ / /

Fuck. Fuck him. Fuck it. Fuck everything. Why did that happen? He couldn't remove it from his head. The warmth of Izumi's lips, the moment when he hugged him tightly to don't let him escape the kiss. "I should had strangled him", thought Nishi, walking quickly towards his home. He was gripping his schoolbag strongly, pissed off. They just kissed. Two times. It was so disgusting he just wanted it to be a dream. He settled aside those thoughts; the less he remembered Izumi's fucking hateful face, the best. When he was about to get into his apartment, he saw a guy resting in his front door. He didn't recognize him.

-Can you move away? -Nishi said, roughly. He was not in a mood to stand other people.

The guy had short curly hair, and a little beard. He seemed strong, and he was smiling prideful.

-Nice suit you're wearing, kid. -He said.

Nishi frowned. _What?_ He had just seen the Gantz suit that Nishi was wearing under his clothes… Nishi stared at him.

-Who are you?

-Kazuo Kuwabara. Nice to meet ya, Nishi. -He smiled deeply.

-How do you know about me? -Nishi crossed his arms, remaining calm.

-I asked about you to a friend of mine… He's been… ya know, kinda stalking you and your friend. -Kuwabara scratched his head.

-What?! -Nishi was losing his composure.- Stalking us? Who?

"And who's my friend, anyways? Fuck him."

-Kyo. One of our dope man team. -When he saw Nishi's confused face, he quickly added:- Uh… Never mind. The thing is, we are from the Gantz room in Osaka. When we heard about strong newcomers in Tokyo, we came to search you. And so, Kyo must be speaking with Izumi at the moment.

-A Gantz room in Osaka? Are there more Gantz rooms out there? -Nishi was surprised. Izumi didn't tell him about that. Well, probably Izumi was hiding him more things. Screw that perverted guy.

-Yeah, of course. The world is full of 'em. You really don't know anything about Gantz, do you…? -Kuwabara grinned sarcastically.

-As you said, I'm a newcomer… -Nishi looked away, annoyed.

"Izumi told me that if someone speaks about Gantz outside the room, his head will explode… Guess that rule doesn't apply between Gantz members, even if they are from other parts of the world…", he thought.

-So… do you know about a little Gantz ball, like this? -Kuwabara drew in the air the size of the ball he was talking about. It fitted in a hand.- We are after it.

-No. I never heard about that. What is it for? -All this new things were giving Nishi a lot of stuff to think about.

-Well… It seems it appeared somewhere around here… We don't know what it can do, but it may be dangerous for us to leave it in simple humans hands. -Said Kuwabara.

-Why? -Nishi already knew the answer, but he asked anyways.

-Normal people must not get involved with us. It's a Gantz rule, and we don't want our heads to explode… right? -He approached Nishi.- Maybe your friend knows something about this?

-…Who knows. -Nishi whispered.

-…Well, hope Kyo comes back with him soon and tells us what he knows. -Kuwabara stepped aside.

-I'm not waiting for him. Go and talk about whatever you want; it doesn't matter to me. -Nishi was about to enter his apartment.

-The fuck? This concerns you! You don't care about what may happen with Gantz, Nishi? -Kuwabara looked at him, confused.

"Of course I care… But I don't want to see his face again.", he thought, stopping.

-…Wait, I'm gonna call Kyo. He will get in here quickly, wait a bit. -He drew out his phone and called him. Nishi sighed, and stared at him. A minute and another more passed, and Kuwabara looked at his phone confused.- What's going on? He isn't answering, but his phone is turned on.

Nishi frowned. Something in Kuwabara' expression told him that this wasn't right.

-And what's the matter? He must be busy. -He said.

-No. He would answer. Even drugged, he would answer. He's my… Oh fuck… -Kuwabara bit his lip.- Come on. We're going to your friend's apartment.

-What?! Go by yourself! -Nishi got upset. He didn't want to get back in there.

-I don't know where it is, and this is your fault. -Suddenly, Kuwabara' gaze was terrifying.- It's your fault if Kyo isn't getting back. So you're gonna come with me and see what the fuck is happening, okay?

"What the hell is wrong with me? Our fault? I didn't do anything, damn…", even thinking this, Nishi knew he hadn't many options left. Kuwabara seemed more strong than him, and he didn't want to end up pathetically again. He already decided that he was going to be cold and careless.

-Do whatever you want. -He said.

They started walking towards Izumi's house, without saying anything. They could feel a lot of tension between them. In the minutes they were together, Nishi already felt how Kuwabara was about to jump into him and beat him up, but he managed to keep the insults to himself. He didn't want to start a fight in front his apartment. They quickly got into Izumi's apartment, and Nishi pressed the door bell. He heard some noises from inside, but nobody came to open the door.

-…Izumi? -He said.

"Fuck. It's so goddamned stupid to come now to this place again… I have nothing to do with him.", he thought, puff and blowing. Then, Izumi opened the door. They looked to each other, eye to eye, both slightly surprised and remaining silent. The air felt light and Izumi's hair, which was poorly settled behind his ears, fell on his shoulders. Nishi opened his mouth unconsciously, like he was about to say something. Izumi gave him a large look, and Nishi felt like he was undressing him with his gaze. He suddenly frowned, embarrassed, and shouted:

-What are you waiting for?! Let us get in!

Izumi blinked, surprised.

-The fuck are you doing here, Nishi? -He asked.

-I'm not here because I want you. -He seemed annoyed.- Come and meet Kuwabara, a Gantz member of Osaka. And now let me enter your apartment.

Izumi moved aside, confused by Nishi's words. He started to talk with Kuwabara, so Nishi got into the apartment and started to search for Kyo. He didn't find him anywhere as far as he could see without entering any room; he didn't want to get too deep into that asshole's house. He came back where the others were talking.

-Where's Kyo? -After asking this, everything went quiet. Nobody said nothing. Nishi knew what Izumi's look meant, so he looked to the floor.

Kuwabara stared at Izumi.

-Where's him? -He asked, fearing the answer.

-...He's dead. -Answered Izumi at a low voice. Kuwabara had just told him everything about who they were and why were they searching them, so he felt a bit bad for killing Kyo all of a sudden.

Kuwabara' eyes went blank. He didn't want to believe him. Nishi asked himself if he had even heard what Izumi said. _Yeah_. Kyo was dead, the team mate of that Osaka guy called Kuwabara.

-He's what...? -Kuwabara supported himself on a wall, trembling.

Nishi approached Izumi and whispered:

-What happened?

When he saw Nishi talking, Kuwabara rushed into him and grabbed him by the neck. Nishi gasped, surprised, trying to defend himself, but Kuwabara pressed the suit buttons, making the suit useless.

-You assassins! You motherfuckers! I'm gonna kill you both! I'm gonna fucking kill you! -He shouted, trying to strangle Nishi, who was hardly breathing.

Izumi tried to stop him, pulling him from behind.

-Stop it!

-No! You killed Kyo! You're gonna pay for this! -Some tears appeared on Kuwabara' eyes.

-Nishi hasn't done anything! Release him! -Izumi, who was wearing the suit under the clothes, grabbed Kuwabara tighter and managed to get him far from Nishi, who started coughing.

Kuwabara closed strongly his fists and hit Izumi in the stomach, who contained a gasp and stepped back. Nishi stood up. He knew they couldn't make Kuwabara understand; he was in rage, mind-blinded. So they had to fight back. His suit was not working, but he had no option but to win. He quickly punched Kuwabara on the face, which made him fell to the floor.

-What are you doing, Nishi? -Izumi was surprised.

-What? He hit me first. -Nishi frowned.

We don't want to start a fight here, fuck… -He sighed.

-You can stay back if you want. I'm gonna beat him up. -Said Nishi.

Izumi puffed and blow, but said nothing. Kuwabara got up and tried to hit Nishi, who managed to stop him.

-You son of a bitch…! -Kuwabara' face was red of anger.

He drew out a razor, trying to stab Nishi, who almost fell and got a deep cut on his left arm, which left a bad bleeding wound. Izumi was watching the scene, in tension, but without moving. He knew Nishi would get upset if he got in his way. Kuwabara punched Nishi in the face, making his nose to start bleeding. "Fuck…", thought Nishi, "my head's spinning…" He quickly wiped out the blood of his nose, frowning. "I'm gonna crush him down." Holding for himself the pain of his bleeding arm, he faced Kuwabara. They started to hit each other, and, at some point, Kuwabara' razor fell to the ground. When Nishi tried to pick it up, Kuwabara stepped in his hand strongly, making his fingers crack. Nishi contained a scream, falling to the ground. For a moment, his eyes met Izumi's. That was enough to make the tall guy move on.

/ / /

Izumi hadn't made a move since the fight started. He didn't want to fight against a guy who could gave them big amounts of information, such as Kuwabara was, but at that point there was nothing he could do to stop it. He knew it was his fault that the fight had started, because he was the one who killed Kyo. But now he also was who could end the fight quickly; they both were tired, and he was wearing a functional suit. So, when he saw the damaged face of Nishi, he decided to kick Kuwabara' ass out. _Nobody could hurt his shield and leave like nothing had happened._

-You assassins… -Whispered Kuwabara.

-You're no better than me. -Izumi half-smiled.

-Shut up! You go killing people without knowing nothing about them! Who do you think you are?!

-Isn't that what you do every day? You kill aliens. That doesn't make any difference! -Izumi frowned.

Kuwabara bit his lip.

-But they are no human…

-So as long as they are not like you it's okay, huh? -Izumi looked at Nishi.- As this kid would say… "You're a fucking hypocrite".

He punched Kuwabara, but he returned him the hit. Izumi took a few steps back. "He's strong… Well, he has a bigger body than mine, and also looks older…"

-Why did you kill Kyo?! -Shouted Kuwabara.

Izumi looked to the floor.

-He was drugged. He attacked me, and I just defended myself. -He said.

Kuwabara frowned. Izumi could tell by his gaze that he trusted him. He trusted him, but yet he couldn't accept it. He shouted as he ran onto Izumi, trying to stab him, but Izumi was able to step back, only getting a few hair cut. Kuwabara approached him and punched him on the stomach, but Izumi tightened the suit to not get hurt. He smiled lightly. He enjoyed fights. These things were the ones that made his life different, special, not so perfect… And he loved it.

That annoyed Kuwabara. He killed Kyo, and he was smiling? Did that brat had even feelings? He didn't apologize, and he sure didn't feel sorry for what he did, and that pissed Kuwabara off. They tried to punch each other, but they were both quick. After all, they were both experienced alien fighters, so they were skilled in fights. Izumi had thought about it when they were talking before, and as he had said before, he was convinced that they were quite similar. They both enjoyed fighting, they were both strong, and they both remained in Gantz. But there was something that made them different. It was Kuwabara' capacity to feel sad for someone like Kyo. That made Izumi think how would he react if Nishi died… but he won't feel anything, right?

Lost in his thoughts, he got punched on the face, and almost fell to the ground. He approached Kuwabara and hit him back. With the strength of the suit, Izumi made him fell to the ground. Kuwabara tried to stab him on a feet, but Izumi kicked out the razor. He sighed when he heard Kuwabara' cry.

-Kyo… Kyo… -He mumbled.

Izumi stared at him, with a dark look on his eyes.

"…How can somebody be that important to someone…? I sure don't understand those feelings…", Izumi thought.

-…Good nightmares. -He said, stepping on Kuwabara' head.

Everything went dark for him.


	4. Chapter 4: Katastrophe

Episode 04: Katastrophe

Nishi let out a small noise as he opened his eyes slowly. He was in a bed that wasn't his, not in his room. He tried to get up, but he felt big pain in his left arm. The cut was deep. "Where the fuck am I…?" He was only wearing the suit. Izumi entered the room, and Nishi frowned.

-How are you feeling? -He asked, approaching him.

-None of your business… Is this your apartment? -Nishi tried to stay calm.

-Yes. You are wounded, so you should stay here for this night.

-I'm not staying here, you… Agh! -When Nishi tried to get up, he fell again on the bed.

-Calm down. I won't do anything. Take your time to heal, and then go home. -Said Izumi.

_Fuck_. Nishi looked away. Even if he didn't like the idea, he hadn't got another choice, and that annoyed him. He didn't want to be in a same room with Izumi.

-…Where's Kuwabara? -Asked Nishi.

-I don't know. I left him outside the apartment, but I don't think he will bother us anymore, at least for a while. -Said Izumi.

-What happened to Kyo? -Nishi had been waiting to ask this since all this affair started.

-He got in my apartment. He was drugged. He suddenly attacked me, so I just… -Izumi bit his lip.

-…What's the matter? -Said Nishi when he saw Izumi lowering his voice.- Are you regretting it?

-What? -Said Izumi, confused.

-He wasn't even conscious of what he was doing. He sure was an useless guy. It doesn't matter now. -Nishi said.- On the other hand, don't worry about the information he could have given you if he was alive; if Kuwabara is still alive, we can make him spit everything out.

-…You sure are wicked. -Izumi smiled ironically. He then threw to Nishi his school bag.- This is yours. Your uniform is in. Get a rest for now.

Nishi took it without saying a word. He stared at Izumi as he left the room, and then sighed. One way or another, he ended up by Izumi's side. It was like he depended on him; he had saved his life many times. And he hated that. Why couldn't him be stronger to protect himself? He didn't want anyone to face things for him. But this kept happening, one more time and another… "Even with the power to fight aliens, I'm still weak… And instead of getting stronger, I keep complaining here… Damn it…", he let himself fall to the bed and closed his eyes. "There's nothing I can do with a wounded body, anyways…" He lost the perception on time. Hours passed, as he tried to not over-think. But some things kept coming to his mind; things about the last fight, about how bad he had fought and how it had to be Izumi the one to beat Kuwabara. At some point, he fell asleep. He could swear he dreamt about someone watching over him. Maybe it was his mother. He only could think about how sweet her smell was…

/ / /

Izumi was still nervous from his fight against Kuwabara, and tired. He had a lot of things to think about now. All that stuff about other Gantz teams was bringing him a lot of questions to do to himself. Why didn't he hear about them before? What was that stuff about the little black ball about? He was even starting to ask to himself things about Gantz that he never thought about. "Where does Gantz come from? How many time were there people fighting against aliens?" He was probably never going to know it. But it seemed things were changing, and that they would keep doing so for a while. The Osaka team, the little ball… Izumi smiled. "This is getting more exciting."

He got undressed, taking his suit off and wearing new underwear and a long shirt. He passed by the room where Nishi was to see if everything was okay, and he saw him sleeping. He stared at him, silent. "It's surprising to see that he's still alive…" He was about to leave, but he then stopped. "He's such an asshole… Never thanking people for what they do for him, always proud-hearted and irritating… But… I keep saving him. And look at him now; sleeping, defenseless… As he's waiting for me to protect him. Yes. It's like he knew I'm going to come and save him, no matter what. Like he could rely on me. And I'm always saving him, wanting anything back, 'cause I'm so stupid… Hah, what the fuck I'm thinking about?" He entered the room and approached Nishi. He sighed. "When he sleeps he doesn't look as the sadist he is, huh…" He looked away and left the room as he slightly blushed. "How embarrassing…" he thought, ashamed of himself. He went to his room, lying on the bed, and managed to get some sleep.

He woke up before Nishi. He had dreamt about something, but he couldn't remember it. He got dressed and went to the kitchen to make something to eat. He stopped and opened the large kitchen cabinet. There was Kyo's corpse. He hadn't had enough time to get rid of it, so he had hid it there. He searched in the corpse's pockets, but found nothing more than drugs. He sighed and got up.

-Gotta throw the rubbish before it starts to stink. -He said to himself.

After getting the corpse out, he came to the kitchen again, this time to get some breakfast. "…I should prepare something for Nishi… He will be hungry. And maybe if I start being nice to him we'll start getting well along…", he thought. "Of course, it's only because I'm interested on his skills, that's all…" He didn't know how long he had been standing there, but he heard Nishi getting up when he was finishing serving the dish. Nishi came out from the bedroom, wearing his school uniform and the suit under it.

-Good morning. -Greeted Izumi.

Nishi didn't answer, but approached him. "Seems the princess isn't in a good mood. Well, he never is", thought Izumi, smiling to himself.

-Wanna eat something? -He handed him the dish.

Nishi stared at him, frowned, and with a quick movement threw the plate, making all the food to fall to Izumi's clothes.

-Nobody asked you to do this. I feel better so I'm going home. -Said Nishi. Izumi watched him as he left.

"…The fuck?! Why did he do that?", he thought. "Yesterday, he was mumbling in his dreams, deep sleeping, and today he's acting like an asshole again…" He took his shirt off, touching his skin, which was very warmed by the hot food. "…But his behavior is still attracting."

/ / /

Nishi walked fast toward his house. "Okay, he only showed some kindness, but it makes me sick! What reason does he have to be kind with me? Fuck him!", he thought. "I've been unthankfully and gross to everybody in my life, and all that I had ever received were insults and hate. Why does he treat me different? It stresses me to not understand him. _Even_ if he dies it just to get a teammate, he's trying too hard…"

He finally got home, but stopped when he entered the apartment. The door was open, but he remembered he hadn't even got into his house the day before, when Kuwabara stopped him. Then, what was going on? He stepped into the apartment. Everything was a mess; books thrown from the shelters, broken crystals all by the floor (he took care to not get cut), the furniture upside-down… "A thief?", he asked to himself, frowning. "No. If someone had found my house, and attacked it, it must be a Gantz-related person. Even those assholes of my classmates couldn't get this far." He went to his bedroom to see if everything was in place. Every shelter was opened. "It may be Kuwabara… He probably was searching that black little bal…", he supposed. "But I didn't even see it, I didn't know about it before he told me. It really must be an important thing…" He saw that his computer was turned on, but left on the insert-password screen. He sighed.

-I'm gonna make him spit everything out and then I'll kill him. -He whispered.

After putting everything in order, he went out for a walk. He needed to put in order some thoughts.

It was a strangely hot day, and few people were on the streets. Someone with blond hair and dark suit caught up his attention. He was wearing sunglasses, but Nishi could notice that he was like expecting something, looking around like searching for someone. As Nishi didn't have nothing to do in that moment, he decided to get some entertainment by watching that guy's movements. The man started to walk when a girl passed him by. She had long, black hair, tied up on a bun. She was wearing a dress, and was holding her handbag. She seemed to be walking toward the underground train. The blond man was following her, so Nishi also walked towards them, carefully.

He gave a quick look to his hand watch. The next train was about to come in a couple of minutes. "What am I even doing…?", he thought, smiling to himself. He had a feeling that something interesting would happen. The woman stopped near the warning line of the train lane. The man stood behind her, a few meters of distance, and faking he was distracted. Nishi stopped near the entrance, paying attention to the scene. He almost let out a small shout when he saw the man taking a black little ball from his jacket's pocket. He controlled himself to not rush onto him. The man seemed to be checking something on the ball. The noise of the train coming was heard, and that made Nishi stood up tense. The man putted the ball in his pocket again, and when everybody could see the train, he did it. Nishi opened his mouth, but said nothing, as he saw the man pushing the girl. He then ran away, passing by Nishi's side. People started to scream, and Nishi clicked his tongue, running after the man.

-Stop! -He shouted. When he exited the underground station, he topped. He didn't see the man anymore. - Fuck!

"I've lost an important source of information…", he thought. The black ball. Gantz. He had seen the man with the ball. Yet, he escaped. Nishi sighed. Now he had to return home with empty hands. _Or not_. He had seen the man. "Yeah, I can tell about it to Izu…", he stopped. Izumi. Why was he thinking about him? He shook his head and started walking again.

The man killed a girl, after checking the ball. Why? What reason did he got to kill that woman? Was Gantz involved in that? He was pretty sure Kuwabara knew more than what he said. If he only could find him… Another thing that was worrying him was what was going on with Gantz. Why didn't he call them yet? "There are so many things happening that I feel like I'm going mad…", he thought.

/ / /

As he finished cleaning the mess that Nishi made before, Izumi exited the apartment. He wanted to check something, so he went to the park where they had the last mission. He already reached the 100 points once, but Gantz never did the strange things he was doing now. It annoyed him not to know what was going on, as he considered himself a veteran. "Osaka team, black ball, not missions since some days…"

When he arrived to the park, he sighed. The police had been there, and had surrounded the place with signals to prevent people from getting near, but everything was a mess. The lake's water was spread all over the place. The grass was burned by the fire balls the tengu threw, and every single sign that identified that place as a park had disappeared. "The aliens are getting more violent…", Izumi thought. He was about to leave, but stopped when he saw someone inside of the warned area. He made some efforts to identify that person, and finally recognized him as Kuwabara. "What's he doing here?", he avoided the police adverts and approached him.

-Are you feeling good enough to be hanging out? -He asked, trying to not get too close to him.

But Kuwabara seemed much more relaxed now. He was holding a lighted cigarette between his lips, and it seemed he had treated his wounds. He didn't answer Izumi's question.

-…I'm glad Kyo won't see the Katastrophe. -He said to himself.- It would be hard for him to survive to it.

-…What are you talking about? -Izumi frowned.

Kuwabara looked at his own feet.

-You will eventually understand it… -He half-smiled.

-…What's going on? What's Gantz doing? -Izumi closed his fists tightly.

-…Gantz is preparing himself to the Invasion. Things are gonna get harder from now on. -Kuwabara stared at Izumi.

-Invasion…? Could it be…?

-Yes. Aliens are gonna invade Earth. -Kuwabara threw his cigarette to the floor.

Izumi bit his lip. That explained many things…

-…You know what the black ball can do, right? -He whispered.

-Of course. I lied when I said I didn't know. The person with the ball would be able to kill people in order to make them go to the Gantz room. Gantz needs strong people to stop the invasion. Also, Gantz wants to get rid of us, so the person with the ball will try to kill us. The little ball has information about us, and will order his owner to do this. -Explained Kuwabara

Izumi listened carefully, hoping he wasn't lying again.

-Why does Gantz want to kill us? -He asked.

-He wants a whole new and powerful team. He thinks we will be useless when the Invasion arrives. That's why I want to get the ball. I don't want to die. I will stop the aliens.

-Then… team up with us! We all could… -Started Izumi.

-No. You killed Kyo. Do you think I can forgive you that easily? -Kuwabara turned around to leave.- There's no time left. Good luck.

Izumi sighed. Things got bad really quickly, but he had no time to waste. He trusted his skills, but he knew he couldn't stop an alien invasion by himself. "Well, wasn't this what I wanted? Excitement, hard things in my life… How ironic. Maybe Nishi was right and I'm a hypocrite who wants to run away when things get really bad… But no, I'll face this. I'll do this even if I have to do it by my own." He started to walk, leaving the place. _Right_. What about Nishi? He didn't know about the Invasion. "…It's not my problem", he thought. He stopped. He took his phone out of his pocket. " "…Not my problem…" He searched for Nishi's number. Something inside his chest hurt badly.

/ / /

Nishi was distracted, so he wasn't hearing a girl who was calling him. She touched Nishi's shoulder, making him turn around. She was a classmate of him, but he didn't remember her.

-Are you skipping classes, Nishi? -She smiled.

He frowned. Why was her speaking to him? Well, at least he didn't remember her as a girl who bullied him. "I think she sits in a corner of the class, and that she doesn't speak to other persons of the class… Still, she greets me so cheerful… That annoys me", he thought.

-Aren't you skipping classes too? -He said.

-Well, yeah, but it doesn't really matter. -She took a look around.- There are many policeman around… What happened here?

-A girl was thrown to the train lanes. -Nishi answered, disinterested.

His classmate opened her eyes wide.

-How terrible… -She whispered.

-…Well, I'm going. -Nishi started to walk away, thinking that he had nothing to do there.

-Ah, wait for me! -She ran after him.

He rolled his eyes.

-What do you want from me? -He said.

She suddenly blushed and lowered her head, still walking behind Nishi.

-Well… Nothing, to be honest. I just haven't got anything to do.

-Then go to class.

-But I…

-What?

They both stopped. Nishi was annoyed by her presence. Why did so suddenly appear someone following him? He had enough things to think about…

-…Sorry. I'll go to class. See you later. -She mumbled, walking away quickly.

As she left, Nishi saw the object that she was holding in her hand. _It can't be_. The girl was holding a small black ball. He stood there, confused. Some minutes passed until he reacted. He had lost the view over the girl. He started to run towards the school. "This is not good. I sense something's gonna happen…", he thought.

When he arrived to the school, he looked to his class' window. "Fuck… What the hell is going on…?" The window had some fresh blood on it. He drew out the Gantz gun he was hiding on his schoolbag. His heart was beating very fast. He was excited. Heat came up to all places in his body, keeping him moving. He grabbed his suit tightly. This time he was going to beat whatever was about to come. When he arrived to the class, he stopped for a second. The door was shut down, but blood came out from below the door, and nothing from inside could be seen because blood was splattered everywhere. He pointed at the door with the gun, and with a shot it crashed into tiny little pieces. He got in, just to see everyone inside was dead. It was a blood pool. He walked through the class looking at every corpse. He smiled at himself. His annoying classmates were dead, "They got what they deserved" He didn't feel anything for them.

As he walked, he saw someone kneeling down next to a corpse. He stopped and tried to not make any noise, but he knew that he was caught up. The man keeling sure was the assassin. He didn't identify him as a classmate or a teacher. As he wasn't looking at him, giving all his attention to the corpse, Nishi got curious and tried to look at the corpse. It was her. The girl from before, who had the black ball. The man kneeling turned around to look at Nishi. _Fuck_. It was the blond guy, with the sunglasses, who killed the girl at the underground. He knew something about Gantz, but Nishi hadn't see him before. They both stared at each other for a while, and then the sunglasses man stood up.

-Nishi Joichirô. -He said.

-Who are you? And how do you know me? -Nishi pointed at him with the gun.

-I'm Hikawa, a vampire. I hacked Gantz. -He took out the sunglasses.

Nishi opened his eyes wide. What the fuck was he saying? Hikawa smiled at his reaction.

-You're out of words? Guess I should give you some explanation… You know about the black ball and everything, right? I have the ball, which is supposed to create a new and powerful Gantz team by killing people to send them to Gantz. But it fell on the wrong hands. I'm a vampire, a kind of alien, and I'm going to kill you all. Our race will invade the Earth.

Nishi listened carefully. He had a lot of question to ask, but he knew Hikawa wanted to kill him more than anything. He was an alien, a vampire, and that was the only thing important in that moment. He had enough reasons to fight back. But it was then when he noticed that Hikawa wasn't holding any weapon. Nishi frowned.

-…Invade the Earth? You alone? -He finally managed to ask something, staying calm.

-You don't trust my power? I hacked Gantz. That's why I know about you and Izumi. I've got control over Gantz, and yet you don't trust my power? I'm not alone. We're hiding among the humans. -Explained Hikawa.

-…If you really hacked Gantz, show me some proof of it.

Hikawa smiled.

-As you please.

All Nishi could hear before losing perception on everything was his phone ringing.

/ / /

Izumi was finally trying to call Nishi when he felt his foot floating. He looked at them and he saw them disappearing. "A Gantz mission right now?" When he was fully transported, he contained a gasp. There were many people there. Lots of students, with the same uniform as Nishi's… He recognized the group of boys that had beaten Nishi up some time ago. "Are they all Nishi's classmates…?", he thought. There was also a girl without a school uniform, trembling in a corner and with her hair tied up on a bun, and a man with sunglasses was being teleported there. The last one teleported was Nishi, appearing next to that man.

-What do you say now? You trust me? -Said the man with sunglasses.

Nishi opened his eyes. Izumi was staring at him, confused. What was he doing with that man? Why did he look so surprised?

-A mission is about to start, and so you should start to believe what's going on. The Katastrophe, Invasion.

Izumi then understood.

-Are you an alien? -He asked.

-Yes. I'm Hikawa, a vampire. -Replied him. He lighted a cigarette and started smoking.- Good luck on trying surviving, Izumi.

Hoi Hoi hugged Izumi.

-I'm ready. -Izumi smiled, proud-hearted.

They started to be transferred, being Nishi the first, who was still confused. "A vampire entered the mission… This is clearly not good. How did he get in here? Could it be that Gantz' strange behavior is his fault? Did he… hack Gantz?", thought Izumi, remembering Kuwabara' words. The only ones with the suit were Nishi and Izumi. All the newcomers started screaming. Izumi approached Nishi, who wasn't moving.

-Hey… I… called you before. I was going to tell you about the Invasion. I met Kuwabara and he told me everything… -Nishi didn't answer. Izumi didn't know why his chest was still hurting. Every time he looked at Nishi… he had to contain himself to not pat his back or… even to not hug him. He bit his lip.- Are those your classmates?

Nishi nodded. Then he looked at Izumi.

-We've gotta keep our guards on. The alien to beat this time is Hikawa. -He said.

-How do you know it…? -Asked Izumi.

-The alien hasn't appeared yet, and Gantz didn't show any alien picture this time. Also, Hikawa has something to do with this. He had the black ball. -Nishi took out the radar, looking to the timer in the screen.- …We could wait the counter to get to zero…

-No. That will make us lose the points we've gathered so far. -Said Izumi.

-What? -Nishi looked at him, surprised.- You didn't tell me about that.

-Uh… You didn't ask me about that! -He scratched the back of his head.- When someone revives you or when the counter gets to zero, you lose all your points.

Nishi sighed.

-Then let's try to fight. -He concluded.

They looked around, but they didn't see Hikawa anywhere. "He must be hiding…", thought Izumi. Then, a classmate of Nishi approached them.

-W-what's going on? Why the fuck you two are wearing that? Answer us, Nishi, or I'll kill you! -He shouted, making the other classmates to stop crying.

Izumi stared at Nishi, quiet. Nishi smiled.

-Did you say "kill"? -He said. Izumi knew what was going next, so he smiled to himself. The proud, arrogant, cruel and violent Nishi was about to be shown.- You guys do know nothing about death! And you dare to say that?! You fucking hypocrites! You are the ones who are gonna die here! Fuck, you are already dead!

Everyone else was looking at Nishi, without saying a word. They were surprised and shocked.

-You worthless human beings! You don't care about anyone but your own selves! You are liars, you're nothing more than garbage of the society, never trying to do things by your own, always depending on someone… And yet you think you can force me to talk? Screw you! -Continued Nishi.

Izumi felt his heart beating faster. What the fuck was wrong with him? He couldn't stop looking at Nishi. He was listening carefully to his words, even if he knew he wasn't saying that to him. He had something that caught up all his attention. _It was like such a turn on_. Then, one of the classmates who took a gun from Gantz' arsenal thinking it was a toy, pointed it at Nishi.

-You son of a bitch! -He shouted, pulling the trigger.

Nishi's eyes went wide. For a second, he got really worried. He couldn't die again. He wanted to come back to life, and he neither wanted to lose his points. Some seconds passed, and Nishi didn't get hurt.

-Huh, it's only a toy… -Said his classmate, clicking his tongue.

Nishi touched his own suit. He looked at Izumi, asking him with the glance what happened.

-The suits protects you from our own weapons. -Said Izumi.

Nishi smiled, satisfied with that answer. He pointed with the gun to the classmate who shot him before, and did the same thing. His classmate's head exploded, and the other newcomers screamed.

-If you point at me, I'll kill you! If you attack me, I'll kill you! Got it?! -Said Nishi.

After that, no one dared to say anything. Nishi turned around and started to walk away, followed by Izumi. "He's so fucking amazing.", thought Izumi. As they walked, he heard a noise from behind. He looked back just to see Hikawa drawing a katana out from the palm of his hand. Nishi also stopped and Izumi grabbed tight his own katana.

-Nishi, stay behind. You have a gun, you can't fight from here. -Said Izumi.

Nishi hadn't other choice, so he did what the tall boy said.

-Are you ready, Izumi? -Asked Hikawa, teasing him.

-I already told you. I'm ready to bring you down. -Izumi smiled.

They both looked at each other for a while, and then they ran onto each other. Their weapons clashed to each other, making a loud noise. Hikawa, as an alien, had more strength than Izumi, so the human had to step back. They started fighting, proving each other's strength. "He's different than the other aliens we fought… This is no more a game. The human race's destiny is in our hands", thought Izumi. Moreover, Hikawa was very fast, so he managed to move aside each time Izumi tried to hit him. Izumi had to find another way to beat him. Not with the katana, but… He looked back for a second, to look at Nishi. Hikawa took advantage of it to wound him in the stomach. Izumi fell in his knees.

-Nishi! -He shouted.

The sound of a shot was heard all over the place.


	5. Chapter 5: Invasion

Episode 05: Invasion

As he saw them fighting, Nishi was thinking of a way to beat Kuwabara. He knew Izumi couldn't win alone, so he wasn't going to lose that chance to prove his strength. He grabbed his gun tightly. "I'm not going to stand here without fighting.", he thought. He pointed at Hikawa, breathing heavily. When he saw Izumi falling down and shouting his name, he shot. At that moment, he was so proud of himself that he lowered his gun without paying attention. He had protected Izumi. For the first time, it was him who helped and was not the one who was being saved. He felt the joy on his chest. What was that feeling that melted inside of him?

He approached Hikawa slowly. He didn't expect him getting up and attacking him with his katana. Nishi tightened the suit, stopping him. "Did I miss the shot?", he clicked his tongue.

-Nice try, Nishi, but you were too nervous while shooting. But, oh, you broke my sunglasses… -Said Hikawa, taking a look to his broken sunglasses. Nishi frowned.- Yeah, usually Gantz guns destroy almost all the zone where you shoot, but don't underestimate a vampire's powers.

Nishi started to shoot many times at him, but he managed to escape the explosions that the Gantz gun caused. Hikawa tried to slice up Nishi with the katana, so Nishi ran as he shot him. He didn't know how many time passed as they chased each other, but it seemed that he wasn't doing any progress. "I've got to beat him…", thought Nishi, still running. He looked around to see if he could set any trap, but Izumi was still lying on the ground and Hikawa didn't let him take any rest, so he had no time to think about an strategy.

-Hey, don't let your guard down! -Said Hikawa, trying to stab him. Hopefully, Nishi fell and only got a bit of hair cut. Nishi shot quickly, taking advantage of Hikawa' failure, and hit him in his right eye, which started to bleed.- Aaargh!

Nishi was panting. "At least, I didn't miss the shoot again…", he got up. Suddenly, everything went dizzy. "What…?" He blinked twice, feeling something wet coming down his head. "Fuck… I hit my head when I fell…" He tried anyways to point at Hikawa. "I can't lose the chance to beat him up…", he thought. But, as he was pointing, Hikawa got up.

-You…! -He approached Nishi.- What did you do?!

Nishi wasn't ready for that. His head was spinning, and he couldn't ran away when Kuwabara stabbed him on the stomach. He neither had got time to tighten his suit, so his eyes went wide open when he heard the suit breaking. "It… must be a dream.", he thought. He fell to the ground, feeling the blood coming out from the wound. "What a deep wound…"

-Screw you. -Hikawa' katana disappeared in his hand and he left the two boys alone.

Nishi looked at Izumi.

-Hey… you alive? -He mumbled. He coughed, and sighed when he saw he coughed a bit of blood.- Is this gonna end like this…?

Izumi hardly got up and approached Nishi.

-Don't give up… if you survive until we come back to the Gantz room, your wounds will be healed… -He said.

-I… won't make it. Look at the wound…

Izumi looked down at it and bit his lip.

-Hey, Nishi… You can't die.

-I know that, fuck… I don't want to die… I want the 100 points… -He closed his eyes.

-You'll make it! Hey, stay with me! -Izumi was trembling.

Nishi opened his eyes again, looking at him, and hardly smiling.

-I hate you so much, damn… You're such an asshole… And yet… I fought against Hikawa for you… -He whispered. His breathing was getting heavy.

-Nishi… don't die, son of a bitch… -Izumi started to cry, and touched Nishi's cheek.- …So cold…

-Yet your hand is still warm… -Nishi said.- Are you crying?

-No, I'm not.

-You are.

-Fuck…! Of course I am crying! Why are you giving up?! You can't die like this! -Said Izumi.

-Why are you worrying so much about me? -Asked Nishi. He didn't get an answer.- I… don't want to die.

His view got dark. He only could hear Izumi's breathing, and he could feel nothing more than his tears falling to his chest. He didn't notice that he had started crying too. "Am I going to die like this…?"

-…Why am I worrying about you, you said? -Izumi's voice echoed.- …It's because I love you.

And Nishi stopped thinking.

/ / /

Izumi felt it. The right moment when Nishi's life left his body, he felt it. He shook him.

-Hey. Hey… Answer me, Nishi… -His voice was broken.- Don't…

Nishi was dead. The body he was holding between his arms was no longer alive.

Izumi tried to shout, but any sound came from his mouth. "No. Stop it. Stop this. Stop this lie. It can't be. Nishi can't be…" He felt his hand disappearing. He cursed everything. He was being transported. Just two minutes more and Nishi would had survived… Izumi was covered in tears. "You hate me? Well, I fucking don't", as he thought this, his lips touched Nishi's. He kissed him sweetly, but deeply. Maybe that was going to be the last time he could have a chance to kiss him, or even to see him. As he disappeared, he continued kissing him as long as he could. "I fucking love you, kid…"

Tears came up again when he stopped feeling Nishi's lips. He had been fully transported. The counter had gone to zero. He was alone in the Gantz room. He was alone, just as he was when all this Gantz stuff started. This had to be a nightmare. He looked at Gantz and read the message that was on its surface.

"1D24L GUY: 0 P01NT5. TH3 C0UNT3R G0T T0 Z3R0!"

-…I already know it, fuck…

"BUT 1'LL G1V3 Y0U 0N3 L45T M15510N"

Izumi stared at the words. One last mission…?

"K1LL TH15 GUY 4ND Y0U'LL G3T 100 P01NT5"

Izumi's eyes opened wide. The picture that Gantz was showing him was a drawing of Hikawa. "If I kill him… I'll get 100 points? Then, I could revive Nishi…" For once in his life, Izumi felt something that he could call "hope". He got up and hid a Gantz gun and katana in his schoolbag.

-Okay, Gantz. I'll do it.

"The Invasion has nothing to do with me. I don't care about the human's race fate… But, if I have a chance to save Nishi…", he thought, "If Hikawa wants to kill us, he will eventually come back to me…"

For the next two days, Izumi didn't exit his apartment. The Invasion had started, and aliens were attacking Japan. They would soon find him, but he had to take some time to himself to put in order his thoughts. "I've over-reacted on Nishi's death… I've always been strong enough to support everything, I can't show weakness…" He gave a look to his room, before leaving.

-If everything goes well, I'll come back here with Nishi. -He said to himself.- Now, I must face Hikawa…

He exited the apartment. The look on his eyes showed not fear, but determination to get his mission done. Outside there was no people, but the streets were filled with aliens, which were destructing building and everything they found. Izumi drew out the katana and ran towards them. He quickly sliced them up. "If Nishi saw the city now, he would be quite surprised…", he thought.

He headed to Osaka. As the underground trains stopped working since the Invasion started, Izumi had to go by foot. "But I have to get there… I must find Kuwabara. I can't defeat Hikawa alone" On his way, he fought against some aliens, but he couldn't waste a lot of time there. He bit his lip as he kept running. He remembered well the kiss he gave to Nishi. "I'll take you back, Nishi…", he thought.

As he approached Osaka, more aliens appeared too. The Osaka team was fighting outside against them. A girl wearing a Gantz suit approached Izumi.

-Hey! Where are you from? Could you help us? -She said.

-I'm from Tokyo. Sorry, do you know where Kuwabara is? -Said Izumi.

The girl pointed at a man fighting wildly. He was only wearing half of the suit, and he was smoking while fighting. Izumi sighed. "Here's the most concentration of aliens in Japan… Guess it's because here there are many alien hunters. If I stay with them, Hikawa will appear sooner or later" He looked at the girl.

-I'll help.

Somehow, he trusted on Kuwabara. He knew he was strong. Maybe if they fought together, they could end with the Invasion… He took out the gun and started to shoot the aliens. Kuwabara, noticing him, said:

-What're you doing here?! You are the only hunter from the Tokyo team, go back!

-There's no hope for Tokyo! If we want to stop them, we've gotta end with all the aliens we can! -Said Izumi.

The girl stood next to Izumi, also shooting.

-Welcome to our team. Kuwabara won't admit it, but he's glad you're here. -She said.

-Why? -They talked while fighting.

-He knows you're strong. I'm kinda jealous.

As Izumi shot the last alien that was there, he looked to the girl. She grinned.

-I'm Anzu, nice to meet ya!

-The name is Izumi. -He said.

He felt some joy inside him. For once in his life, he had found a nice group of people. They weren't like the other Gantz-mates he had. They were ready to fight, and it seemed they only cared about their own lives. "This is what I was searching. A team to support, but not getting too involved with each other. They are strong enough to be by my side. They've survived to many fights to make it through the Invasion" Kuwabara approached him.

-What's up? Where's the kid, Nishi? -He patted Izumi's shoulder.

Izumi's glance went dark.

-We've gotta talk about what happened. -He said.

After doing so, Kuwabara found himself biting his lip.

-Gantz hacked… I had an idea that something like this was happening… Fuck! We have to continue killing aliens until we find Hikawa… -He said.

-Let me be the one to kill Hikawa. I want to get Nishi back. -Said Izumi.

Kuwabara nodded.

-I'll go with you. -Said Anzu.- I want to see the face of our enemy. And I don't think you can defeat him by yourself, no matter how strong you are.

Izumi smiled.

-I like people with clear ideas. -He said.

She suddenly blushed and looked away. Kuwabara laughed.

-You two stop joking and go on! Aliens are heading to Tokyo again. The amount of aliens there is quite worrying. I guess they're planning something fucking dangerous… Take Anzu and some few hunters with you and go back! I can't leave Osaka yet. -Said Kuwabara.

-Okay. -Izumi looked for some hunters, founding three of them, and they all started to ran to Tokyo.

"Between the aliens that are in Tokyo, it's possible that Hikawa is there…", thought Izumi.

-It's true that you're the one who killed Kyo? -Asked Anzu.

-Yes. -Izumi looked away.

-…And now your teammate, that Nishi, is dead. I'm not mad at you, but I guess now you know what's like to lose your close friends. -She said.

"What's like losing him, huh… It's because of his death that I found out I love him", thought Izumi. He didn't notice that Anzu was staring at him, with her face quite red. "If I think about Kyo now… I can only think of a guy who hid on the drugs because he feared aliens. How weak."

They finally arrived to Tokyo. Things were worse than when Izumi left some hours ago. The streets were full of aliens, and people ran out of the buildings, which were crashing down. Aliens were hunting the people on the streets. Anzu looked at the sky.

-There's so many blood here that it seems it had reached the sky. -She said.

Izumi also looked up. The sky was red crimson.

-What's going on…? -He whispered.

Standing up on an amount of corpses was Hikawa, with the katana coming out from his hand.

-Hey, Izumi. -He greeted.

Izumi stared at him and frowned.

-Hikawa…!

He ran towards him quickly.

-Hey, wait! -Anzu tried to stop him, but he was way too fast. The other hunters started to fight against the aliens that were around. Anzu followed Izumi.

Izumi took out the katana while he was running, throwing his schoolbag to the ground. Hikawa stopped his attack, smiling.

-What, are you mad at me? -He said.

-I'm gonna take him back. -Said Izumi.

-Was him that important to you?

Hikawa pushed him back, and turned around to stop Anzu, who had jumped onto him trying to stab him with a katana. They started to fight, but she got a cut on his left arm, so she stepped back.

-Izumi! -She shouted.

He tried to slice Hikawa with the katana, but he kicked him on the stomach with great strength. Even half blinded, he was too strong. Anzu pointed at him with the gun, while he was fighting with Izumi. She was panting, so it was difficult to her to point well. She clicked her tongue when she saw she missed the shot. She took a look to her wounded arm. Her suit was close to the limit, so it hadn't supported the hit. She cut a bit of the suit and wrapped it around the wound. She looked at the fight. The way Izumi was fighting amazed her. He was aggressive, trying to hit him, but yet each movement was done carefully and full of grace. She felt the heat coming up to her cheeks and she shook her head, trying to get away with those thoughts. She continued trying to shoot Hikawa, but it was difficult because they were moving and she could shot Izumi. Hikawa almost fell and she managed to shoot him in his left arm, making it explode. Blood fell from the wound, making Hikawa to stare at Anzu.

-You bitch… -He whispered.

He rushed towards her, and she tried to take her katana to stop him, but she wasn't ready. Izumi ran to stop him, making his katana to clash with Hikawa'. They continued fighting, but Hikawa didn't lose attention on Anzu. She didn't know what to do to help Izumi, who was hardly defending himself. "If only Nishi was here…", he thought. In one moment, Hikawa managed to throw Izumi's katana away. "Wha…"

-Izumi! The gun! -Anzu shouted, throwing him the gun.

He grabbed it in the air, and tried to shoot Hikawa. He avoided it, and surprising Izumi, tried to stab him on the back. "Fuck…! I can't stop it…!"

-Noo!

Everything happened very fast. Anzu, with tears on her eyes, got between the two boys, receiving the attack. The katana traversed her body. Izumi's eyes went wide open. Anzu fell on her knees, and Hikawa broke into laughers.

-What?! She protected you! Look, you're alive thanks to her! -He said.

Anzu looked at Izumi, who closed his fists tightly.

-Hold on, Anzu… I'll kill him, so don't you die yet! -Izumi picked up his katana and ran towards Hikawa.

Hikawa stopped his attack, and they started fighting again, clashing each time their weapons.

-What? Don't tell me she's important to you! You only want Nishi back! -Said Hikawa.

-But why did she had to die? -Said Izumi.

-She was in the way! And she's not dead… yet.

Hikawa was getting slower than before. The wound on his arm didn't stop bleeding, and he was half-blind. Izumi took advantage of it and attacked him even faster. Hikawa fell to the ground, and Izumi approached him, pointing him with the katana.

-I'm gonna kill you. -He said.

-What a coincidence, I'm gonna do the same with you. -Hikawa pointed his own sword at Izumi, not standing up.

They both looked at each other for a while. "Once I kill him, I'll get Nishi back…", he thought. He smiled at Hikawa.

-Goodbye to the Invasion. -He stabbed Hikawa.

Hikawa replied by cutting his left arm off. Then, he closed his eyes.

-…The Invasion is not over… -He whispered, before stopping breathing.

Izumi shouted in pain, falling to the ground. He looked to his cut arm, which was lying some meters apart from him.

-What… No… -He mumbled.

He had lost his arm. The wound keep bleeding, and he had to stop it if he didn't want to die. As he heard his suit breaking, he cut a bit of it and wrapped it around his wound to stop the bleeding. But he had lost an arm. He stood up, grabbing his left shoulder, panting. He approached Anzu.

-Are you still alive…? -He whispered.

She was breathing heavily.

-I'm running out of time… -With the last of her strength, she got closer to Izumi to kiss him. He stood there, surprised.

Behind them, Nishi had started to appear.

/ / /

He touched his suit to get sure he was alive and not a simple illusion. He looked, confused, around. What he first saw was a girl kissing Izumi. He felt something inside him. Was he jealous? Then he saw the rest. The city was being destroyed by the aliens. "The Invasion has started… I wonder how long was I dead…", he thought. Remembering his death made his head to start spinning. He saw Hikawa' corpse and smiled. Then he approached Izumi and the girl. Now she was dead between his arms. Nishi frowned when he saw that Izumi hadn't got his left arm.

-What happened?! -He said.

Izumi looked at him and blinked twice.

-Nishi…? When did you appear? -He mumbled.

-I've been here enough time to see you two kissing. -He looked away.

-Don't tell me you… -Izumi smiled. Nishi had got jealous for him? That made him kinda glad.

-…Anyways, you have to explain what happened! And we have to treat your wound… -Said Nishi.

-I'm fine… It's so good to see you're back… -Izumi said, looking at him.

-…How is it that I'm back? -Asked Nishi.

-I killed Hikawa, and Gantz revived you. -Izumi laid the girl on the ground.

-…And who's her?

-Anzu, and Osaka team hunter. She died protecting me. Forgive her for doing that… -Said Izumi.

-Pff, like I care. -Nishi looked away.

"Plus, we already kissed once…", he thought. "Wait, why the fuck I'm remembering that disgusting thing?!"

Izumi was breathing heavily.

-We've got to stop the Invasion… -He said.

Nishi looked around.

-You better wait here. I'll go for help. -He said, taking Izumi's gun.

He ran searching for people, but only found dead Gantz hunters. His head was still spinning. He wanted to know how things had got like that. Aliens were everywhere, and they soon attacked him. He started shooting them, but they were too many for him. He managed to dodge some aliens and to kill a few of them. "I thought that killing Hikawa everything would end… Guess every alien has a mind of their own and they've decided to destroy the Earth", he thought. He finally saw someone's silhouette and approached him. It was Kuwabara.

-Hey! Izumi is wounded and needs help..:! -He suddenly stopped.

"What the fuck does this mean…"

-Kuwabara…

He was holding a couple of grenades in his hands. With many of them, the damage would be remarkable. Nishi himself didn't know if he would have the time enough to ran away with Izumi before he threw them. He had to act quickly.

-I'm going to end with all the aliens. -Said Kuwabara, with a dark glance on his eyes.

-But you'll die if you throw so many in a same place! -He said. He cursed himself at low voice. How ridiculous he looked trying to convince him.

-I can't kill the aliens with only one bomb. -Said Kuwabara.- And don't act like you care about me, I know you only want to survive. But I don't even care about myself anymore… I'll join Kyo soon, saving the world from the aliens…

"…You can't meet the deads. I… couldn't meet my mom when I died", he thought, biting his lip.

-…Even if you kill the aliens that are here, you won't end with the Invasion! There are plenty of them! -Nishi frowned.

Kuwabara only smiled, and his eyes seemed to say "What else can I do?". Nishi clicked his tongue and ran towards Izumi. "He's got the determination to do it… Fuck, I can't die again!", he thought. He dodged the corpses and got next to Izumi, who was confused to see him so worried.

-What's up…? -He asked.

-Start running, Izumi! There's no time…! -Just as he was saying that, he found himself being pushed to the front.

Kuwabara had started throwing the bombs. Anzu' corpse flew in pieces through the air. Nishi tried to protect Izumi, but they both ended up thrown to the ground. Some minutes passed until Nishi's ears stopped ringing. His body hurt badly. Blood was falling by his forehead. Still on the ground, he took a look around. Everything was devastated. The smoke didn't let him see very far, but he was sure that Kuwabara hadn't survived. When he was able to see again, he saw Izumi some meters away from him. He tried to crawl to get next to him, but he found himself screaming in pain. He looked back. His wyes went wide open. He hadn't got his right leg. Blood fell from the wound, but he couldn't see his leg nowhere. "No… It can't be…" He contained the tears. Supporting the pain, he crawled next to Izumi. He heard Izumi's hard breathing, feeling some relief.

-I… Izumi… -He mumbled.

Izumi's wound had opened again, and he had also hit his head. He reached Nishi's hands and took them between his own hands.

-Nishi… Are you hurt…? -He managed to say.

-Of course, fuck… We hadn't got time to ran away… You know, this… is gonna be the end… -Answered Nishi.

-No, you… you could ran away and save you…

Nishi hardly smiled and showed him that he had lost his leg. Izumi grabbed his hands tightly.

-I'm sorry… -He whispered.

-It's not like you to say that… -Said Nishi, looking at him.

-Guess you're right… I just wanted to be honest for once in my life. -Izumi caressed his hands.

-…Everything happened so fast…

Izumi managed to get Nishi closer to him, hugging him with the only arm he had left.

-I want to be like this for a while… -He said.

Nishi recognized his smell as the one he felt when he had that dream, when he slept at Izumi's house. "So it was his smell, not my mother's…", he thought. He closed his eyes.

-…Nishi? You're still with me…? -Whispered Izumi.

-Yeah…

Nishi had felt Izumi's fear. He didn't want to stay quiet because he needed to know he was still alive. "I understand it…"

-…I hope Kuwabara will end with the Invasion in our place… -Izumi said.

Nishi didn't want to destroy Izumi's last hope, so he didn't say that it was Kuwabara who did that, and just nodded.

-…Aren't you gonna say you're… proud of me? -Nishi felt Izumi's fear in his voice.

-Why?

-I killed Kuwabara… -He said.

-…I would have preferred you to keep your arm, dumbass… -Mumbled Nishi.

-…Sorry.

They remained silent for a while, but Izumi got worried when he heard Nishi crying.

-Hey, Nishi… -He looked at him.

-I… don't want to die… I want to live… I neither want you to die, fuck… -He said.

Izumi bit his lip. It made him feel bad to hear Nishi saying that.

-…Hey, promise me something. -He said.

Nishi opened his eyes.

-…What?

-…If we got a new life, we'll try to find each other.

Nishi didn't say that he found it a fantasy. He wanted to believe in it, even if it was impossible.

-…Yes. -He said.

"It would be nice", he thought. "Living again, just to do things right… Maybe this time I'll be able to throw my pride and be with… this asshole. Dying so many times made me notice that… I'm in love with a motherfucker".

-This time, I'll protect you. -Said Izumi.

Nishi closed his eyes. He barely heard Izumi's voice, but he wanted him to keep talking.

-…And if we ever have the chance to live again, I'll find you and I'll be by your side forever. -Whispered Izumi.

He kissed Nishi, and the little boy gave his last breathing by kissing Izumi.

A noise that sounded like a clock marking the seconds was the last thing Izumi heard before closing his eyes.


	6. Epilogue: A New Morning Has Come

Epilogue: A New Morning Has Come

The room was empty now. Only the black ball remained in the center of the room. Some letters appeared on its surface, but there was nobody to read it.

"TH3 1NV4510N H45 3ND3D. 1'LL U53 TH3 P01NT5 TH4T 1 H4V3 F0R WH4T 1 W4NT"

The letters disappeared, and the ball didn't make any noise again.

/ / /

His head was hurting badly. He found himself lying on the sofa, in an uncomfortable position. The TV was on, on the news channel. A man with messy hair, smoking and wearing a weird and black suit was being interviewed, but he didn't seem happy with it. "He's got famous lately… it seems he stopped an alien invasion, but I don't remember it very well… It all seems like a fantasy to me", he thought. He got up and prepared himself to go to the high school, ignoring his headache. While getting dressed, he saw a mark on his left arm. He frowned. "Did I have this before?" Not paying attention to it, he turned the TV off and sighed. He gave a look to the room before exiting his apartment and started to walk.

/ / /

He let out a strong "Fuck!" as he got up. He was outside his apartment. He didn't remember getting some sleep out there. Sighing, he searched on his pockets for his keys. He started to get really worried when he saw he didn't find them anywhere. "What the hell's going on…?" He tried to force the door, but it obviously didn't work. He got his hands through his short and dark hair. He then rubbed his eyes and sighed. His head was spinning, and he had to make an effort to try to remember where he put the keys. He puff and blown. "They're in my schoolbag. My classmates stole it before. Fuck…" He looked around. "…I have to take it back" He started to ran towards his high school, and slowed down the speed when he felt his right leg was hurting. "The fuck is wrong now…?" Without paying attention to other people in the street, he started to walk again.

/ / /

He was distracted, so he didn't see someone walking onto him without noticing. They both fell to the floor.

-Fuck! Watch your steps! -Said the guy he had fell with. He had dark short hair. He was younger than him.

"I think I saw him somewhere before…", he thought.

-Aren't you gonna apologize?! -Continued shouting the guy.

-Same here, kid! -He said, frowning. He moved his long dark hair away, behind his ears.

-Screw you! -The boy got up and walked away quickly.

He stared at him, still on the ground, and slightly confused. "I don't know where I saw him, but he's really annoying", he thought, getting up.

His name was Shion Izumi, and, even if he didn't know it yet, he had just met Joichirô Nishi. They were Gantz' favorites hunters. A last message appeared on Gantz surface:

"TH15 T1M3, B3 H4PPY"


End file.
